1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus for facilitating the handling of heavy, hollow-cored cylindrical objects and, more particularly, to apparatus for handling large paper rolls or the like.
2. Prior Art
In the handling and transportation of paper rolls from mill to ultimate customer, such rolls, which normally are far too heavy to permit of manual handling, generally have the paper wound upon heavy cardboard cores which are approximately three inches (3") in diameter. Some of these rolls are on the order of thirty inches (30") in length, while others can be up to five feet (5') in length.
Prior to the advent of the present invention, it has been a common practice when transporting such heavy paper rolls and similar hollow-cored cylindrical objects from a point of origin (such as) a mill to a point of ultimate use (such as a wharf), to employ specially built handling equipment having clamps which permit each roll to be lifted without damage, placed upon a transport vehicle for transportation to a dock, off-loading of the objects from the transport vehicle, and stacking of the objects on the wharf. When loading and/or unloading such objects on and/or from ships or the like, the lifting device employed has generally comprised an expandible probe that is inserted into the core and then expanded against the sides of the core. After the core has been lifted and deposited in the ship's hold, such expanding probes are then collapsed and retracted from the rolls. Unloading from the ship to another wharf is carried out in the same manner. Further transportation, of course, requires additional specially constructed clamping arrangements whereby the rolls can be lifted from the wharf onto transport vehicles or boxcars, and then transported to the ultimate point of use where again special clamping equipment must be used to unload. The conventional method of handling a probe, as above described, requires the use of varied equipment which may, or may not, always be available and which is relatively costly.
Prior to the present invention, relatively expensive, heavy and complex handling devices have been proposed which are purported to permit the lifting device to accompany paper rolls through all or a portion of the travel of the roll from a point of origin to a point of use. A typical device is that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,510,564-Stockfleth et al. Such devices have not found wide-spread commercial acceptance for a number of reasons. For example, devices of the type described in the aforesaid Stockfleth et al patent are relatively heavy and cumbersome, thereby significantly affecting shipping costs as well as the amount of labor required to position the lifting devices in paper rolls and to later remove such devices from the paper rolls. Because such devices are relatively expensive, they are not suitable for "one-time-usage" applications which permit discarding thereof at the point of destination but, rather, they are commonly returned at considerable expense to the point of origin for subsequent use. Moreover, such devices have commonly incorporated relatively large diameter support flanges which extend under the material wound about the hollow-cored support element, thereby resulting in damage to such materials during handling of the rolls as well as when such rolls are stacked one upon another. Finally, such devices commonly employ rigid, upstanding lifting elements which pass entirely through the hollow-cored support and extend outwardly beyond its upper end for engagement with cargo hooks and the like; and, it has been found that such rigid elements interfere with stacking operations and often cause damage to the paper stored on paper rolls during stacking, loading and/or unloading operations.